A lot of website hosting providers will give you the chance to choose your very own domain name. Most of the time, this will be free of charge and if you are starting up a brand new site there is a high chance that you will already have something in mind. Choosing a domain name can be a long process if the one that you want is taken so in this instance you will need to find a different one. That is why we have compiled this top guide for you so you can choose the right domain name as well as feeling confident knowing that you are going to be found at the top of the search engines.
Write Down a Couple of Words That Describe Your Website
When you start to search for your domain name it is always a good idea for you to write down a list of 5 words or phrases that you will then use to describe your future site. You can take these words and you can add words around them as well so by the end you’ll find that you have a completely new name that is probably not taken. By doing this, you can also make sure that your domain is completely reflective on the services that you provide.
Make Sure That Your Domain Easy To Type
If your domain name isn’t easy to type then you may as well be turning customers away at the door. If you are actually spending money on marketing then you want your customers to remember your name and you want them to come back as well. Your domain name is a great way to make sure that this happens but you should do everything that you can to avoid using slang and other misspellings. This is because your customer will be more likely to misspell them as well, causing them to go to other sites instead of your own.
Targeting Your Location
If your business is local, for example, if you own a local coffee shop then you need to make sure that you include your city or the state that you live in. For example, Boston Florists would be reflective of Boston and New York Daisies would be reflective of New York. This will help your customers to instantly identify your location and you’d be surprised at how much it can help you with your SEO as well.
Avoid Using Hyphens or Numbers
Numbers should be avoided where possible and the same goes for hyphens as well. Imagine that you are trying to read out the site to a friend, you can see how it is harder to read something with hyphens, numbers and letters when compared to something that just has letters. Another problem is that your customers won’t know whether your site contains two or 2 or not, so you want to do everything you can to keep it simple.
Your Extension
Your domain name will have an extension at the end which is called a TLD, or a Top Level Domain. There isn’t really a difference between TLDs but it is always a good idea to use one that actually reflects your business or your site. For example, using .info is great if you have an informational site, but it isn’t the best option if you are trying to sell a product. You will also find that .org is great if you have a charity, but not if you have an e-commerce site, so there are things that you need to keep in mind when designing your site.
Of course, there are other domain extensions available as well, such as .co.uk and .au and this is great if you are based in any of those specific countries. It may also help to tell your users where you are based and it can also help you in your search results as well. If you can’t access the domain that you want, don’t worry but don’t choose the wrong domain just so you can target your customers. For example, if your website is BostonFlorist but BostonFlorist.com is taken, don’t go for BostonFlorist.co.uk instead because this will really confuse your customers.
Avoid Copyright
It is always a good idea to see if your website infringes any copyright issues because the last thing you want is to get a letter stating that you need to remove your domain or face legal consequences.
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